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Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah released on bail after 115 days in prison

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Alaa Abd El Fattah, center in white, is welcomed by his wife after he was released from the main central security office in Cairo on 23 March 2014

AP Photo/Roger Anis, El Shorouk Newspaper

PEN International welcomes the conditional release of blogger and political activist Alaa Abd El Fattah. Alaa Abd El Fattah, arrested on 28 November 2013, was released on bail pending trial on 23 March 2014 having spent 115 days in prison for his criticism of repressive state practices and advocacy for freedom of information. Charged with involvement in an unsanctioned protest, Alaa Abd El Fattah's arrest follows a crackdown in dissent in which dozens of activists and political organisers have been sent to prison.

An advocate for freedom of expression, Alaa Abd El Fattah became one of the first Egyptian netizens facilitating a movement for political change. Following the 25 January 2011 uprising, he started a nation-wide people's initiative enabling citizen collaboration in the drafting of the Egyptian Constitution.

His widely read blog — established with his wife, Manal—helped spark a community of bloggers in the Arab World committed to the promotion of free speech and human rights. It won the Reporters Without Borders award at the 2005 Bobs. Their groundbreaking website, Omraneya, collected blog entries across the Arab World, archiving dissent in the face of repression, and became a platform for oppressed voices and alternative expression.

Following the 2011 uprising he initiated and hosted Tweet-Nadwas (“Tweet-Symposiums”), that brought activists and bloggers from across the world into Tahrir Square, to participate in open format dialogue about tough issues ranging from Islamism to Economic Reform.

(Alaa Abdel Fattah greets his friends, family and supporters outside the police station following his release. Video by Mahmoud Salmani)

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Violence against journalists in Europe increased in the second quarter of 2016, reports submitted to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom platform show, as a government crackdown in Turkey intensified and protests turned violent in countries from France to Finland.

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In recent years, the space afforded to civil society to operate freely has been shrinking dramatically across the world, presenting a serious threat to democracy and human rights. Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) have been especially badly affected by this shrinking political space.

The first months of 2014 saw a continuation of the political unrest that rocked the capital city of Phnom Penh in the months following the disputed July 2013 national elections. Political protests continued throughout the city in 2014 as the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) boycotted its National Assembly seats over alleged widespread irregularities in the previous year’s election, which maintained control of the legislative body under the Cambodian People’s Party, and its long-ruling leader Prime Minister Hun Sen, who in 2014 marked 30 years as head of state.

This 140-page report documents lax government enforcement of labor laws and brand actions that hinder monitoring and compliance. In recent years, wage protests, instances of garment workers fainting, and burdensome union registration procedures have spotlighted the plight of workers in Cambodia’s garment factories.

This report documents 45 cases from Caracas and three states, involving more than 150 victims, in which security forces have abused the rights of protesters and other people in the vicinity of demonstrations.

The 100-page report shows that Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal are now facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepali security forces.

The Turkish authorities severely restricted the right to freedom of expression of journalists and writers during and after the Gezi Park protests in 2013, English PEN and PEN International said in their joint report.

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This Briefing Note addresses the increasing practice of forcing human rights defenders, protesters and everyday citizens to sign written statements agreeing to not partake in future demonstrations or illegal activities, as a condition of their release or to avoid charges

Charges against dozens of protesters in connection with the protest on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s 2012 inauguration are "inappropriate" and "disproportionate," according to a panel of independent experts. Twenty seven people are facing "mass rioting" charges in connection with the protest on May 6, 2012.

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The report documents case after case in which police, the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) opened fire into crowds or beat protesters in a brutal and unlawful manner

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